Work-holder.



PATENTBD AUG. 29, 1905.

WORK L APPLICATION ED .6. 1905.

iZ 'Zriz gya ADDIE A. WHITMAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WORK-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 29, 1905.

A lication filed February a, 1905. Serial No. 244,314.

To rtZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it'known'that I, ADDIE A. HITMAN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vork-I-Iolders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for the use of seamstresses for holding cloth and other materials; and it has for its object to provide a simple work-holding device adapted to be conveniently attached to a table and to permit the ready adjustment of the work to any desired extent inwardly from the front of the table.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of my improved work-holder, and Fig. 2 represents an end elevation of the same.

In the drawings, a represents a bed-jaw adapted to bear on the upper surface of a table, said jaw having an upper surface which is preferably flat and constitutes a jaw-face.

0 represents an angular arm formed on the forward edge of the jaw 60, said arm extending downwardly across the outer edge of the table and inwardly under the jaw a and under the table, the arm being provided with a fastening device which is preferably a thumbscrew (Z, adapted to engage the under surface of the table.

0 represents a U-shaped arm which projects from one of the side edges of the jaw a and overhangs said jaw, thearm a being arranged in a plane substantially at right angles with the arm 0, so that it leaves both the front and rear edges of the jaw a entirely unobstructed. The work to be held can therefore be moved freely across said jaw from the front of the table and can project to any desired extent over the table from the rear edge of the jaw.

, f represents a lever pivoted at g to the arm a, said lever being provided with a jaw it, adapted to cooperate with the jaw a in grasping a piece of work and resisting movement of the work toward the front edge of the table. The jaw it is preferably composed of rubber or other yielding material. The lever is provided with a thumb-piece or handle f, whereby it may be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. to disengage the jaw h from the work. When the lever is released, the jaw it drops upon the work and the two jaws cooperate automatically in confining the work against movement toward the outer edge of the table.

It will be noted that the arrangement of the arm 0, said arrangement being such as to leave both the front and rear edges of the bed-jaw unobstructed, enables the operator when working on a long piece of work to push the latter backwardly over the table to any desired extent without interference by the workholder. It will also be noted that the lever is mounted or pivoted so as to swing in a direction transverse to the plane of the U-shaped arm. Therefore the arm itself offers no ob.- struction to the movement of the work away from the user, and the jaws may be employed to clamp or grip the work at almost any distance from the edge thereof, because the space afforded by the U-shaped arm will permit a large amount of the material to be rolled up at one edge so that it can be moved along through the space between the loop of the arm and theside of the lever f and jaw 72,.

I claim A work-holder comprising a bed-jaw formed to bear on a table, its upper surface forming a jaw-face,an arm extending downwardly from the front edge of the jaw and inwardly under the jaw, said arm having an adjustable attaching device for engagement with the table, a U-shaped arm extending from one of the side edges of thebed and overhanging the jaw-face of the bed, said overhanging arm being in a plane substantially at a right angle to the plane of the downwardly-extending arm and presenting an unobstructed space for the passage of the work, and a lever pivoted to said overhanging arm and having a jaw adapted to cooperate with the bed-jaw, the arrangement of the overhanging arm being such that the bed-jaw is unobstructed at its rear edge, so that the work can project indefinitely backward from the rear edge, the lever being pivoted to swing .in a direction transverse to the plane of the overhanging arm whereby the work at one side of the point of engagement of the jaws may be rolled up within the space afforded by the overhanging arm and moved along through said space.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my si nature in presence of two witnesses.

ADDIE A. WHITMAN.

Witnesses:

E. BATCHELDER, ARTHUR H. BROWN. 

